The Stephen King Companion Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror

by Beahm, George; Whelan, Michael; Chadbourne, Glenn; Spignesi, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781250054128
• ISBN10: 1250054125
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-10-06
• Publisher: A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.

King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main writer, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, bestselling novels, and film adaptations. The book is also profusely illustrated with nearly 200 photos, color illustrations by celebrated "Dark Tower" artist Michael Whelan, and black-and-white drawings by Maine artist Glenn Chadbourne.

Supplemented with interviews with friends, colleagues, and mentors who knew King well, this book looks at his formative years in Durham, where he began writing fiction as a young teen, his college years in the turbulent sixties, his struggles with early poverty, working full-time as an English teacher while writing part-time, the long road to the publication of his first novel, Carrie, and the dozens of bestselling books and major screen adaptations that followed.

For fans old and new, The Stephen King Companion is a comprehensive look at America's best-loved bogeyman.

Author Biography

GEORGE BEAHM has published more than thirty books, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages worldwide and have appeared on numerous bestseller lists including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly. A former Army major in the field artillery who served on active duty, in the National Guard, and in the Army Reserve, Beahm and his wife live in southeast Virginia.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader
Foreword: The Learn’d Astronomer by Stephen J. Spignesi
Introduction: The Golden Years by George Beahm

Part One: Maine Roots
1. Family Roots
2. Durham, Maine
3. EC Comics
4. “Three Durham Lads Publishing Bright Hometown Newspaper” by Don Hansen
5. A Special Occasion: Chris Chesley’s Friendship with Stephen King
6. Stephen King at the University of Maine: A Writer in the Making by Sanford Phippen King Graduates: A Blessed Event?
7. Rick Hautala: Maine’s Other Horror Writer Rick Hautala: An Interview
8. Burton Hatlen: An Interview
9. Crossing the Kittery Bridge into Maine’s Heart of Darkness
10. From Student to Teacher: Stephen King and Carroll Terrell

Part Two: Pre-Carrie: A Hardscrabble Life
11. A Writer’s Nightmare, a Writer’s Dream
12. A Good Angel”: Cavalier editor Nye Willden
13. The Bones of the Family Business: Writing

Part Three: Doubleday Boo ks: Magic Time—The Making of the Master of Horror
14. King’s Classic Books: An Overview
15. William G. Thompson: Another Good Ange
16. Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King: The Future Queen of Durham Ruth P. King Obituary
17. Carrie
18. “Campus Columnist Publishes Novel” by Burton Hatlen Stephen King: American Gothic
19. Salem’s Lot On ’Salem’s Lot as the Great American Novel
Stephen King and Frank Darabont on Limited Edition Books
20. The Shining
The Stanley Hotel Shines On
21. Night Shift — Keep on Trucking: Maximum Overdrive
22. The Stand: Taking a Stand Against Doubleday 000
23. Cemetery Dance’s Deluxe Special Editions of the Doubleday Books
24. The Early Bachman Books” Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982)

Part Four: “The Bestsellasaurus Rex” Stomps Over to New American Library
25. Turning the Page: King Goes to New American Library
26. The Dead Zone
27. The Kings’ Maine Haunt in Bangor Terry Steel on the King’s Fence “Bats and Spiders”
28. Firestarter
29. Dark Forces: “The Mist”
30. Frank Darabont on “The Mist”: An Interview Conducted by Hans-Åke Lilja
31. Cujo Coming Clean: King’s Addiction
32. Danse Macabre
33. Stephen King’s Creepshow
34. Drawn to Darkness: Bernie Wrightson, an Artist Inspired by Stephen King
35. Stephen King: A Chautaqua in Pasadena, California
36. Different Seasons
37. The Road to the Dark Tower: Roland’s Quest
38. Michael Whelan: Illustrating the Dark Tower
39. Christine
The King’s and Queen’s Cars
40. Rock and Roll Haven: Stephen King’s Station, WKIT 100.3 FM
41. Pet Sematary
42. Thinner
43. The Talisman
Anthologist Peter Straub
44. Douglas E. Winter’s Stephen King: The Art of Darkness
45. The Eyes of the Dragon
Illustrator Kenny Ray Linkous
46. Castle Rock: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”
47. Cycle of the Werewolf
Bernie Wrightson and Cycle of the Werewolf
48. Skeleton Crew
49. J. K. Potter: Illustrating the Limited Edition of Skeleton Crew
50. Off the Beaten Path: Stephen King’s Office
51. Marsha DeFelippo: An Interview by Hans-Åke Lilja Fan Mail
52. It
“Stephen King, the Master of Pop Dread”
Michael Collings on Stephen King as Storyteller
53. SK Tours of Maine: Stephen King’s Maine Haunts
54. Misery
“Happiness is a Warm Gun”
55. Making Whoopee: Stephen King’s “Gift of Gotta” Harry, Carrie, and Garp: Stephen Kingat the Press Conference
56. Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
57. The Tommyknockers
Stephen King on The Tommyknockers
58. Bag of Nerves: Meeting Stephen King by Kevin Quigley
59. The Dark Half
60. The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition
61. Stephen King Draws on Bernie Wrightson to Illustrate The Stand “I nearly jumped out of my skin”
62. A Dark Treasure: The Limited Edition of The Stand
63. Michael Collings on Four Past Midnight
64. Rock Bottom Remainders
65. Quotes by and About the Rock Bottom Remainders
66. Needful Things
67. Gerald’s Game
68. Philtrum Press
69. Nightmares and Dreamscapes
70. Dolores Claiborne
71. Michael Collings on Insomnia
72. Rose Madder
73. Clive Barker: Demon Fabulist: Clive Barker on Stephen King
74. Desperation and The Regulators: A Bulleted Book
75. The Green Mile

Part Five: Scribner: Building Bridges
76. The Winter of King’s Discontent
77. Michael Collings in Bag of Bones
78. Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay on Storm of the Century
79. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
80. The Day That Changed King’s Life: The Accident—June 19, 1999: “The Bonus Round” and Gallows Humor
81. Hearts in Atlantis
Coda: “Squad D”
82. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing
83. Dreamcatcher
84. Black House, with Peter Straub
85. The Ultimate Stephen King Horror Story: Retirement?
86. From a Buick 8
87. Stephen King Receives the National Book Award
88. Take Stephen King. Seriously.
89. Everything’s Eventual
90. Faithful
“Not in my lifetime. Not in yours, either.”
91. Stewart O’Nan: An Interview by Hans-Åke Lilja
92. The Colorado Kid
93. How to Speak Like a “Mainah” : A Mainer on Actors’ Maine Accents by David Lowell
94. Cell
95. Lisey’s Story
96. Blaze
97. The Haven Foundation: A Place for Freelance
98. Duma Key
99. The Kings’ Main Home in Florida: Touring “Duma Key”
100. Just After Sunset: the Story Behind “The Cat from Hell”
101. Under the Dome
The TV Adaptation of Under The Dome
102. Blockade Billy
The Skeleton Crew at Cemetery Dance
103. Full Dark, No Stars
104. 11/22/63 “Q&A: Russell Dorr, Stephen King’s Researcher”: Interviewed by Stephanie Klose
105. The Dark Man — Glenn Chadbourne: An Interview by George Beahm
106. Joyland
107. Doctor Sleep: Oscar the Cat
108. Mr. Mercedes
109. World Fantasy and World Horror Conventions: November 2014
110. Revival
111. Stephen King’s Revival Book Tour: Stephen King on Death
112. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Stevie
113. “I Hear Time’s Winged Chariot Drawing Near”
114. Finders Keepers
115. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

Part Six: Movies: Screamplays
116. Stephen: A Box Office King
117. Ten Notable Films in Chronological Order — Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary
118. Frank Darabont: An Interview by Hans-Åke Lilja
119. The Real Thing: Drew Struzan: A Profile by George Beahm

Part Seven: The Critics’ Corner
120. Stephen Spignesi: An Interview Conducted in 2015 by George Beahm
121. Stephen King and the Critics: A Personal Perspective by Michael Collings
122. Steve’s Take: An Interview with Stephen King by Tony Magistrale
123. The King and I: Further Adventures with Stephen King by Sanford Phippen

Part Eight: Steph en King in Cyberspace
124. Top Web Sites for King Fans Glass Onion Graphics: Michael Whelan’s Dark Tower Prints
125. Lilja’s Library: An Interview with Hans-Åke Lilja by George Beahm
126. An Interview with David A. Williamson of Betts Books by George Beahm
127. Making the Grade: Assessing Book Condition
A Chronology of Stephen King’s Life:
Personal and Professional, 1947–2015 000
Acknowledgments
About the writers
About the artists
About the author